Irish Equine Veterinary Association in partnership with Connolly’s RED MILLS – A Good Life Well Lived – Equine Summit

The Irish Horse Board was delighted to participate in the Irish Equine Veterinary Association’s Equine Summit: A Good Life Well Lived, held in partnership with Connolly’s Red Mills. The event highlighted the vital importance of collaboration between the Thoroughbred and Sport Horse sectors in maximising equine wellbeing and health throughout their competition careers and beyond. By working together, industry representatives and the veterinary profession can make a lasting difference for horses across competitive disciplines. We extend our sincere thanks to our partners Connolly’s Red Mills for their generous hospitality and a superb tour of the impressive mill at Goresbridge as part of the Equine summit.
Irish Equine Veterinary Association in partnership with Connolly’s RED MILLS
A Good Life Well Lived – Equine Summit
For three days running straight last week, Co Kilkenny was the centre of the Irish Thoroughbred Industry, as it was home to the inaugural A Good Life – Well Live Equine Summit proudly presented by the Irish Equine Veterinary Association, in partnership with Connolly’s RED MILLS.

Monday 11th August, saw the thoroughbred industry’s key stakeholders and representative bodies gather together for an afternoon of engagement and networking. Ballylinch Stud was the first port of call, during which John O’Connor, its managing director hosted a luncheon and its general manger Adrian Sherry gave a guided tour of the stud farm, which included a stallion parade. From there the delegation made its way to Connolly’s RED MILLS’ state of the art manufacturing facilities in Goresbridge, which employs just under 400 people in what is a very rural area. Its CEO Gareth Connolly gave all present a very comprehensive tour of the mill, in including its world class research and development laboratory. The day concluded with a Summit Supper at Mount Juliet Estate, during which the key stakeholders and representative bodies leaders enjoyed an evening of networking and relationship building as well as discussing shared challenges and opportunities currently facing the thoroughbred industry from an equine wellness perspective.

The initial feedback from the delegation is that all found the day to be of great benefit in terms of working together for the betterment of the horses in their care. There are calls already to make the equine summit a yearly fixture in the Irish bloodstock industry’s calendar.
The following industry bodies were represented: AIR, AIRCVS, AIRO, HRI, IHRB, IRTA, ITBA, ISSA as well as Goffs, Weatherbys, Irish Horse Board and TREO EILE.
Tuesday 12th August, IEVA presented a purposely crafted programme of presentations relating to equine wellness, for all those involved with or working in the Irish bloodstock industry. This day commenced with the guided tour of Connolly’s RED MILLS, again by Gareth Connolly.
From there the delegation made its way to Gowran Park for lunch, followed by a series of presentations, delivered by a superb panel of leading equine industry experts from both home and abroad.; namely Dr Orla Doherty, Dr David Marlin and Dr Alina Vale.
The programme included a number of pertinent presentations from the expert Connolly’s RED MILLS’s team of equine nutritionists; namely Nicole Groyer, Louise Jones, Sorcha O’Connor and Mike Sheilds. Good engagement and cross body discussions were had between speakers and delegates.

Wednesday 13th August, was the day dedicated to Irish equine veterinarians. A purposely crafted programme was delivered by the series of equine veterinary experts and the team of Connolly’s RED MILL’s equine nutritionists. This day commenced at the mill, which played hosts to a duo of workshops, which covered * Clinical Nutrition Insights- Nutrition as a Tool and *From field to factory to feed pot- What is NOPS? Reducing risks of positive drug tests due to contamination.
Gareth Connolly, once again gave a tour of the manufacturing facility. In the afternoon, lunch was served at Gowran Park, before the series of afternoon presentations were delivered by;
Dr Orla Dohery who spoke on *Applying equine psychology to improving behaviour, handling and training
Dr David Marlin who spoke on * Managing Racehorses in the Heat Optimising Performance & Welfare
Dr Alina Vale who spoke on * Racehorse Fatalities- What Can We Learn from Tragedy?
The final presentation, delivered by Connolly’s RED MILLS’ Louise Jones and Sorcha O’Connor looked at how *Teamwork in Equine Nutrition & How Vets and Nutritionists Can Win Together. This sparked great engagement from all present. This day ended with racing and dinner at Gowran Park, which featured the Hurry Harriet Listed Stakes.
From IEVA’s perspective, the equine vets are the horse owners primary port of call for all matters of equine health whether it is before, during and after their racing career. By working together with the industry representatives, equine vets can truly advocate for the welfare and safety of those patients in our charge.